Pork & Red Skin Potatoes With Coconut Milk

I was craving for the creamy coconut taste with pork tonight but I didn’t necessarily want to make pork adobo with coconut milk. I decided to modify the adobo recipe by omitting the base flavor which comes from the combination of soy sauce and vinegar. I came out with a totally different dish which was sooo good thanks to the 1 simple component that I decided in the middle of cooking. You’ll find out as you go through the step-by-step recipe.

INGREDIENTS:
about 3 pounds of pork (Boston Butt cut, or whatever cut you could slice into thick cubes)
1/2 cup of flour
sprinkles of; salt, black pepper, sage powder, dried basil
a pinch of cayenne pepper
3 tbsp of oil
1 sm onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 medium size red skin potatoes
1 sm can of coconut milk
water (sm can of coconut milk size)
salt & pepper
juice of 1 kalamansi (or 1 wedge of lime/lemon)
chopped scallions for garnish

If you’re wondering what a Boston Butt pork cut it, here it is. It’s from the upper part shoulder from the front leg. It’s marbled with fat that’s why it’s very affordable and delish when cooked . Boston Butt is mostly used for Southern pork bbq. This one is from Piggly Wiggly, almost 3 pounds for $3.52. Not bad, no?

Slice the pork in chunky cubes. Not too big but not too small either. If you would prefer a less fatty pork meat then buy a different cut with no fat, I guess. I happen to like the pork fat. It makes the dish moist actually. FYI, I didn’t use all the meat. I set aside a small size for lemon pork cutlets for another night.

In a bowl, mix together flour and the sprinkles of salt, black pepper, sage powder, dried basil plus a pinch of cayenne pepper. Add the pork into the bowl. Toss by using your hands to coat the pork with the flour mixture.

Heat up the oil in a non-skillet pan. Put the pork into the pan to brown. cook for about 5 minutes.

While that’s browning, take care of the onions, garlic and red skin potatoes. You can peel the potatoes if you want but I like red skin potatoes in all its glory.

Stir the pork to brown the other side. Cook for another 5 minutes or so.

Transfer the pork into a clean bowl, set aside. Make sure to leave the grease in the pan.

Using the same pan, saute’ garlic and onions. Don’t be shy in scraping the flour bits to incorporate with the onions and garlic. That’s the purpose of using the same pan.

Combine the coconut milk and water. Pour the mixture into the pan. Stir and stir.

Season with salt and pepper. Let it boil slightly.

Add the browned pork chunks. Stir everything.

Cover the pan to simmer slowly in medium heat for about 35 minutes. Stir it occasionaly.

Hello Gorgeous! That’s after simmering for about 35 minutes.

Add the red skin potatoes. Stir and stir.

And here’s that magical twist. 1 kalamansi. You can use a lime or lemon wedge if you don’t have it. You can opt not to add it also but I’m telling you, this 1 factor made the dish oh-so-good. The little amount of acidity blended deliciously with the creaminess of coconut milk. Discard the seeds then squeeze the juice onto the pan. Then gently stir everything.

Put the cover back to continue cooking until the potatoes are fork-tender. Stir only a couple of times. Fight the urge to stir more than that.

Transfer into a serving bowl then garnish with sliced scallions. You don’t have to but hey, it makes everything pretty. And I like my food pretty, like me. *wink*

Serve with rice and steamed broccoli, or whatever veggies you like.

The best way to enjoy dishes like this with to-die-for sauces/gravy is to mix it with the rice to have one delicious bite with all the flavor playing within your senses. Do the same with dishes like stir-fries or adobos. Just a tip of course.

And because it looks pretty with all that scallions, and so delicious with the kalamansi, here it is again. Oh yah, we stuffed ourselves silly.